Saturday, January 26, 2008

Networking Sites Are New Recruiting Tool

Welcome to the newest way for fans to become unofficial football recruiters. Social networking sites Facebook and MySpace have become a hotbed for fans to connect to prospects and — in some cases — put them down.

Nebraska recruit Will Compton told the Daily Nebraskan that about every fourth message on his Facebook wall is from a fan of a team recruiting him. In some cases, a fan from a rival team will leave a mean-spirited message.

"It gets annoying sometimes," Compton said. "People forget that I'm a person, too, and not just a football player. I have other things going on in my life other than football."

There are even organized efforts among online recruiters. At least a dozen Facebook and MySpace profiles set up for each major college team and have disclaimers stating they have no affiliation with the team they are promoting.

Thanks to UWire.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The disclaimer is a nice try, but just being a fan or supporter of a team, even if not employed by the team, can give rise to recruiting violations. What's going to be really funny - or sad - is watching the aftermath when one of these schools has to quit recruiting a kid or they are put on probation because of these comments. I'm guessing the people that think they're helping their team out aren't going to enjoy the comments sent to their myspace/facebook page from other livid fans - or being banned from life from attending sporting events at their favorite school.